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Dead Set (TV Series)
Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated British television horror drama created by Charlie Brooker. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show Big Brother. The five episodes, aired over five consecutive nights, chronicle a zombie outbreak that strands the housemates and production staff inside the Big Brother House, which quickly becomes a shelter from the undead. Dead Set is a production of Zeppotron, part of the Endemol group of production and distribution companies that produces the actual Big Brother. Dead Set first aired on E4 starting on 27 October 2008, just six weeks after the end of Big Brother 2008 on that same channel. Cast *Jaime Winstone as Kelly Povell *Riz Ahmed as Riq Rahman *Adam Deacon as Space *Andy Nyman as Patrick Goad *Warren Brown as Marky *Beth Cordingly as Veronica *Kathleen McDermott as Pippa *Kevin Eldon as Joplin *Raj Ghatak as Grayson *Chizzy Akudolu as Angel *Liz May Brice as Alex Bryson *Elyes Gabel as Danny *Shelley Conn as Claire Oberon *Kelly Wenham as Chloe *Jennifer Aries as Sophie *Davina McCall as herself *Charlie Brooker as a zombie *Krishnan Guru-Murthy as himself *Marcus Bentley as himself/''Big Brother'' narrator Cameos by former Big Brother housemates *Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace - ''Big Brother'' Series 7 (2006) *Brian Belo - winner, ''Big Brother'' Series 8 (2007) *Imogen Thomas - Big Brother Series 7 (2006) *Helen Adams - ''Big Brother'' Series 2 (2001) *Paul "Bubble" Ferguson - Big Brother Series 2 (2001) *Saskia Howard-Clarke - ''Big Brother'' Series 6 (2005) *Kinga Karolczak - Big Brother Series 6 (2005) *Eugene Sully - Big Brother Series 6 (2005) *Makosi Musambasi - Big Brother Series 6 (2005) *Ziggy Lichman - Big Brother Series 8 (2007) Episode list Production Although the real Big Brother House is in Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, the house featured in Dead Set is a purpose built set on a former military base in Virginia Water, Surrey, owned by QinetiQ. This site has also housed other productions including Holby Blue, Primeval and Echo Beach. Filming for the series took place over the summer of 2008. Pippa's eviction was filmed outside the real Big Brother house during Belinda's eviction - in front of a real Friday night eviction audience - leading to a small continuity error as the Big Brother series 9 logo was visible instead of the fictional version. According to the DVD release, scenes featuring the undead Davina McCall were filmed in one day, and the bodies lying around the corridor during the scene were created with SFX dummies (besides Eugene Sully's, which McCall is seen feasting on). McCall stated that she was covered in bruises the next day, due to hammering on the door in several scenes. She based her zombie-running style on the T-1000 from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. As she was restricted to only one day's filming, a dummy of McCall was used in some scenes for which she was unavailable.Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, broadcast on 19 November 2008 Filming of the series was found to be difficult, due to budgetary constraints. Some extras were redressed to play different zombies due to the cost of the contact lenses used as zombie eyes; and the scene in Episode 2 in which Alex and Riq's car breaks down was originally meant to be an explosive car crash.Many of the zombies featured in the crowd scenes - including the final assault on the house - were volunteers recruited through Dead Set creator Charlie Brooker's Facebook group. A map for the Borehamwood region, the site of the real Big Brother House, was added to the Urban Dead MMORPG - with a competition to win a copy of the DVD as part of the promotion of the series. UK broadcasts A website for Dead Set was launched on 17 September 2008, containing pictures, videos and competitions relating to the show. There also was a viral marketing site at UnseenScreen.com. Advertisements for the show were aired on E4 and its parent, Channel 4. The series launched on E4 on 27 October 2008 Dead Set was repeated on Channel 4 from 6 to 8 January 2009, reformatted into three-hour-long episodes. All five episodes were broadcast consecutively as a Halloween feature length (2.5 hours) version on E4 on 31 October 2009. This was done again on 30 October 2011. Category:Horror Category:TV Series Category:MINI TV Series Category:Cast Category:Zombies